Why cost cutting at Cardiff City has to stop

Why Cost-Cutting Must Stop At Cardiff City


By Jamie Kimble

04/03/15

The cost-cutting procedures have been clear to see at Cardiff City, especially over the January transfer period when high earning first team players such as Kim-Bo-Kyung, Juan Cala and Guido Burgstaller were released for nothing.

With reported debts of over £118M and wages reaching as high a £30m in the last couple of years, City chairman Mehmet Dalman made sure there was some serious cost-cutting at the Cardiff City Stadium in the opening month of 2015. A total of five players left the club for free after mutually terminating their contract with the club, those players were Juan Cala, Kim-Bo-Kyung, Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Jo-Inge Berget and Guido Burgstaller. The club also said goodbye to John Brayford and Mats Moller Daehli who left for a significant transfer fee, while this seasons signings Adam Le Fondre and Javi Guerra both went on a season long loan deals despite being relatively new to the club.

During the window, it was noticeable that the players leaving with big wages were replaced with players on a much lower pay scale as Alex Revell and Eoin Doyle who have made their name in League One joined as well as youngsters from Everton Matty Kennedy (permanent) and Conor mcaleny(on loan).

Cost-cutting was essential at Cardiff City in January with losses of revenue building up to an un-sustainable level and chairman Mehmet Dalman outlined that and reiterated that he wants to run the club “without relying on capitol from the owner(Vincent Tan)”. Every Cardiff supporter has to come to terms with the fact that we could not continue paying players huge wages in the hope it would return the club to the promise land and accept that we may in fact have to rely on younger or less reputable talent to re-gain the Premier League status.

This season it looks near impossible for The Bluebirds to meet their expectation and get into the Championship Play-Off’s and that cannot have been helped by all the changes in the last transfer window. Recently, manager Slade has seen his side hit an improved spell which has seen City lose only one game in six league games and achieve two consecutive away wins over Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United.

Even the most pessimistic of Cardiff City can surely admit that the last sort of month has seen The Bluebirds improve dramatically given the awful football on display for the majority of the season up to the little run that Cardiff have put together. If City can keep the hard-to-beat run going through to the end of the season and achieve a top half finish then most Cardiff fans will be relatively happy or at least be able to settle for the final position in what has been a disappointing season.


The Bluebirds made it two consecutive away wins against Rotherham United.

It is however, imperative that the cost-cutting stops now and the summer window becomes about strengthening the side and not replacing the talent the club currently possesses as was done in January. With City managing to improve towards the end of this season it would be a massive backwards step if more cut-backs were made and we were to see our talented, high-earning players like Kenwyne Jones (for example) leave the club over the summer.

With Russell Slade finally looking as if he has found a balance in his side, it could be a great opportunity, if given a good budget to strengthen the side appropriately over the summer and go into the new season with a Play-Off’s chasing standard side rather than almost starting again with 5-6 players leaving the club to be replaced by lower league players.

As mentioned, I think most Cardiff City fans accepted that what happened in January had to happen for the good of the club but I would expect the fans to be much less understanding if similar action was to be taken over the summer period, many fans do believe that if this season finishes in a strong manor then the squad could be nicely set up for a push-on next season.

The Bluebirds face Charlton Athletic on Saturday at the Cardiff City Stadium knowing a win will take them into the top half of the table for the first time in months so City are very much still on track to gain a top-half finish this season which would leave Russell Slade’s men confident going into the 2015/16 season.

By Jamie Kemble

Not going to happen.

Cost cutting will continue for the foreseeable future and as Carl said in his update it's more likely that anybody with a value or on a high wage will be moved on as soon as the season ends.

Manga, Marshall, Kenwyne, Noone etc will all be gone and replaced with cheaper alternatives.

I'm not opposed as such to hungry, quality youngsters being brought through but I wouldn't trust Slade to do it.

And I certainly wouldn't trust him with any sort of significant transfer funds.

Not going to happen.

Cost cutting will continue for the foreseeable future and as Carl said in his update it's more likely that anybody with a value or on a high wage will be moved on as soon as the season ends.

Manga, Marshall, Kenwyne, Noone etc will all be gone and replaced with cheaper alternatives.

I'm not opposed as such to hungry, quality youngsters being brought through but I wouldn't trust Slade to do it.

And I certainly wouldn't trust him with any sort of significant transfer funds.

Why wouldn't you trust Slade to do it? Slade took Leyton Orient to within a penalty shootout of joining us in the Championship, assembling that squad with 30 free transfers. 12 million has been cut off our bill since Slade has arrived but he's still brought in his own players for a fraction of the cost to improve us. Kennedy in particular is looking a great signing, yet you say you don't trust Slade to bring in hungry, young players on a low budget? Unbelievable!

Not going to happen.

Cost cutting will continue for the foreseeable future and as Carl said in his update it's more likely that anybody with a value or on a high wage will be moved on as soon as the season ends.

Manga, Marshall, Kenwyne, Noone etc will all be gone and replaced with cheaper alternatives.

I'm not opposed as such to hungry, quality youngsters being brought through but I wouldn't trust Slade to do it.

And I certainly wouldn't trust him with any sort of significant transfer funds.

Why wouldn't you trust Slade to do it? Slade took Leyton Orient to within a penalty shootout of joining us in the Championship, assembling that squad with 30 free transfers. 12 million has been cut off our bill since Slade has arrived but he's still brought in his own players for a fraction of the cost to improve us. Kennedy in particular is looking a great signing, yet you say you don't trust Slade to bring in hungry, young players on a low budget? Unbelievable!

You mention Kennedy who's had a few decent games but what about Revell? An ageing, journeyman striker who has hardly been prolific wherever he's played. Have we improved? If we have it's only because the games prior to that improvement were so bad that it was almost impossible not to improve!

He was also taking Leyton Orient towards the relegation places in League 1 and was within a few games of getting the sack there when he got lucky with the offer of a job here.

To me the quality and style of football we are playing is some of the worst I have seen in over 45 years supporting Cardiff City and to me he is absolutely out of his depth at this level. He has a lower league mentality and under him we will never progress beyond a relegation struggle at worst or mid table mediocrity at best.

If he proves me wrong I will genuinely be glad to admit it and give him all the credit in the world but I've seen nothing over the last few months to suggest he will.

I'm now a bit more optimistic since Trollope has come in:

Kennedy
Peltier
McAleny
O'Keefe but needs more time, so early days
Revell but shown he could do okay with service from the midfield and more match time
Doyle he's young (ish) and shows that he is hungry. I think over time he could do well and develop. We still need to concentrate on service from the midfield.
Malone- okay not blown away by him so far we should be looking at giving John more of a chance.

Marshall is class, but we wont collapse without him. Moore is more than capable of assuming his mantle
Jones, if he goes it'll be a shame, but again hardly devastating. He has physical presence and good with his head. But also lazy, disinterested and can't finish with his feet.
Fabio - talented but can also be a liability at times. Again, not devastated if he ends up leaving
Noone - not bothered if he goes at all. Has been rubbish this season

I do agree that it's time for Slade to drop Whitts and to give Ralls a proper run in the team. Drop Noone/ Gunnars and give Adeymi a chance

Give Adeymi a chance by all means. Not at all sure he will take it though judging by what I've seen of him so far.

Personally id be happy for the big earners to go, its a shame but we need to live within our means and no rely on Tan.

Lets say we get
Marshall 4m
Manga 4m
Noone 2-3m

a few others who could potentially get a fee for are people like Morrison, Whitts, Gunnar

If we could raise just over10m and give Trollope or someone else who comes in 3-4m to build around the others we have then we should be in a position to build up a solid championship squad while no doubt the wage bill would be slashed massively.

Personally id be happy for the big earners to go, its a shame but we need to live within our means and no rely on Tan.

Lets say we get
Marshall 4m
Manga 4m
Noone 2-3m

a few others who could potentially get a fee for are people like Morrison, Whitts, Gunnar

If we could raise just over10m and give Trollope or someone else who comes in 3-4m to build around the others we have then we should be in a position to build up a solid championship squad while no doubt the wage bill would be slashed massively.

Sounds OK but would that keep us in the Championship?

To carry out that sort of exercise I would say you need to be in a lower league.

we could get rid of the top 6 or 7 earners in this side and still have a bigger wage bill than half the division

Personally id be happy for the big earners to go, its a shame but we need to live within our means and no rely on Tan.

Lets say we get
Marshall 4m
Manga 4m
Noone 2-3m

a few others who could potentially get a fee for are people like Morrison, Whitts, Gunnar

If we could raise just over10m and give Trollope or someone else who comes in 3-4m to build around the others we have then we should be in a position to build up a solid championship squad while no doubt the wage bill would be slashed massively.

Sounds OK but would that keep us in the Championship?

To carry out that sort of exercise I would say you need to be in a lower league.

Yeah I think so, a few million to spend would be more than a lot of clubs and the squad members we have ain't that bad. Some would have to up there game but signing the right players I think we would be fine.

Personally id be happy for the big earners to go, its a shame but we need to live within our means and no rely on Tan.

Lets say we get
Marshall 4m
Manga 4m
Noone 2-3m

a few others who could potentially get a fee for are people like Morrison, Whitts, Gunnar

If we could raise just over10m and give Trollope or someone else who comes in 3-4m to build around the others we have then we should be in a position to build up a solid championship squad while no doubt the wage bill would be slashed massively.

Sounds OK but would that keep us in the Championship?

To carry out that sort of exercise I would say you need to be in a lower league.

Yeah I think so, a few million to spend would be more than a lot of clubs and the squad members we have ain't that bad. Some would have to up there game but signing the right players I think we would be fine.

Manga is the only one I'd really miss. I can live without the other two, slade has got some GREAT players in on a budget and the team are starting to take shape and learn from each other if our recent performances are anything to go by.

After being crap and at best average, for decades, living off memories of the odd home 3rd round FA cup tie to Division 1 clubs, I quite enjoyed being top dog in the division with Dave Jones and Malky.
And of course our season in the Prem.

Hopefully after Tan has gone, someone else will stick us back up to the top of the tree.